Note: More one-shots! I am seriously getting addicted to these things...I need to finish my long fics! GAH! Anyway… This is my first Elli-centered thing. I always have so much trouble writing about her and the doctor...but I cheated. Elli isn't even present in the one-shot, haha! She's important, though. At any rate, stop listening to me ramble and read the story!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harvest Moon, I'd have a lot more money. Which would be nice. But I don't. (Sob)

Examination of the Heart

"Tim, are you alright?" Lillia asked the doctor softly. The woman always called the doctor by his first name; he had been treating her for so long that a strange bond of familiarity between patient and healer had been formed. He turned to her and grimaced. It pained the doctor to take care of her every week. For, after all, each week was another miraculous seven days of her life. Who knew how long the gentle woman would last now?

"Everything is fine, Lillia," he answered her abruptly. "Have you been keeping up with your medication?"

"Did I? My apologies. I didn't mean to be so…absent-minded," he sighed.

"Oh, don't be sorry," she laughed. "Everyone slips up once in a while. Even you, Tim."

"At any rate," he interrupted, "we should proceed with the examination."

"Yes," she agreed. "That would be a good idea."

Tim brought out his stethoscope and placed it on the sick woman's chest.

"Breathe," he instructed her. "Good. Now, cough."

Lillia complied, but soon her self-induced cough became a hacking wheeze. The doctor's eyes widened, and he rushed over to grab Lillia's inhaler.

The machine went inside her mouth, and Lillia began to breathe more slowly and deeply. After some time had passed, the inhaler was taken away, and Lillia leaned back on the examination table.

"Oh dear," she sighed. "It's not improving much, is it?"

"Not really," the doctor admitted. "Would you like to rest a moment before I continue?"

"If it's not too much trouble," she insisted. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," he replied, setting himself down at his desk. "I'll sort some of my files while you rest." As he grasped the first few papers, however, they slipped out of his grip and tumbled to the floor. Shaking his head in exasperation, the doctor bent down and retrieved his files.

"…I'm sorry," she sighed. "It's just—I know what it's like to be in love. And Elli is such a sweet girl. Oh dear, I sound like Manna, don't I? If I'm prying, then I'll stop—"

"How do I know?" the doctor murmured.

"Hm?" Lillia questioned in confusion.

"How do I even know that she'll…let me ask her to dinner. That she'll accept my flowers. That she won't laugh in my face."

"Do you really think Elli would say those things to you?" Lillia replied. "What's the worst she would do?"

"…I don't know."

"Yes, you do," Lillia smiled. "The worst would be that she'd say no, that she still wanted to be friends. And would that be so terrible?"

"I can simply forget about her," the doctor offered. "I wouldn't even have to find out what she'd say. I have a job, and work, to occupy my mind."

"But what's occupying your heart?" Lillia asked.

The doctor looked away, silent.

"Tim… Wouldn't it be better to find out how she felt, than to live the rest of your life never knowing? Never being able to find out how things could have been? Never giving it a chance?" Lillia coaxed. "Remember: Nothing ventured, nothing gained."